Creative Weekend

I just spent the weekend with about 200 writers from all genres at the Writers at the Beach Annual Conference. The conference benefits mitrochondrial disease research....you should check out the website...just type in "Writers at the Beach" on your search engine. My head is still spinning from all the inspiration.... I ate dinner next to Carolyn Parkhurst, the author of Lost and Found. If you watch reality shows, you may like this book! Her characters are interesting. I aslo met Jacquelyn Minchard, the first author whose book was chosen for an Oprah's Book Club selection...she is as charming as she is talented. I'm reading her latest one now. What made the weekend special was that four friends from PA spent the weekend at our house so they could go to the conference...72 hours of creativity!!!

To top it off, Friday a big package of fabric that I ordered came by FEDEX....I put in an order because I was having trouble getting the new Wizard of Oz fabric locally...but it was backordered anyway. The local quilt shop is small and does have lovely fabric but their selection of solid colors is limited, thus the on-line ordering.

I can't wait to get busy on a new project!

At our next guild meeting we are going to have instruction on the Lonestar pattern. I had been hesitant to try it because of the biases....I am going to take the quilts that I posted here for show and tell....I like that part of the meeting because I get so inspired by the beautiful work some of the members bring to show.

Also, this weekend was special because the first daffodils in my garden bloomed!!! Spring is really coming.

Energized

The spring weather is really energizing me- yesterday I was out weeding in my flower garden, checking out the sprouts that are coming up. Tulips, daffodils, and crocus are starting to peek through - some have buds on them. The rose bushes are beginning to get leaves and some of the other perennials are starting to show. Today it is supposed to be even nicer outside so I am trying to get my inside work done early.

Yesterday I went to my quilt guild meeting. Our speaker was very inspirational. Even though she does a lot of art quilts and I am more interested in traditional blocks, it was great to hear her thoughts.

I also committed to the guild UFO challenge - for you non-quilters, UFOs are unfinished projects that seem to hide on shelves and drawers. I committed to finishing a quilt that I started in 1980....yes, 1980. It was the first big quilt I started. It was done except for quilting around the edges and putting a binding on it. It was cut by templates (no rotary cutting back then), hand pieced, and hand quilted. Boy, can I see how much I have learned since that project.... My excuse was that we were in the process of building a new house and I was working with two little kids and going back to school for my master's so it got put aside. No excuses now!!

The other UFOs that I plan to finish are 2 projects made from "orphan blocks" (blocks left over from other projects or blocks made to try a pattern). I don't know how I will use them but I will figure out something.

Also I am going to make something from 2 vintage blocks - these are blocks that I rescued when we cleaned out the old family home - as best as I can tell they are blocks that were made by my grandmother or my aunt Gladys. My grandmother passed away in 1949 and my aunt passed away in 1975. I know my aunt hadn't worked on quiting for ages and by the look of the fabric I can guess the fabric is circa 1950 + or - ten years. I also have pieces of a crazy quilt kimono. I found an old diary of my aunt's that talks about making it in 1939. There are also bunches of embroidered squared - mostly flowers and children's designs that are crying to be used in something. I just have to decide how to best showcase these heirloom pieces.

We heard from our publisher - we are now at the stage in the book where we do galley proofs, etc. Tedious.

Well, must get busy...the day is not getting any longer!